South East Lincolnshire Strategic Housing Land Availability Assessment (April 2017)
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South East Lincolnshire Strategic Housing Land Availability Assessment (April 2017) Contents 1 What is a Strategic Housing Land Availability Assessment? 1 2 What sites have been assessed? 1 2.1 The geographical area covered by the SELSHLAA 1 2.3 Site size 2 2.4 Site type 2 3 How have sites been assessed? 3 3.1 Capacity 3 3.4 Suitability 3 3.8 Availability 5 3.11 Achievability 5 3.14 Timescale and rate of development 6 4 How have sites been classified? 7 5 What are the overall findings? 7 Appendix – site-by-site findings 9 o How to find the assessment for a particular site 9 o Algarkirk o Amber Hill o Benington o Bicker o Boston o Butterwick o Cowbit o Crowland o Deeping St Nicholas o Donington o Fishtoft o Fleet Church End o Fleet Hargate o Fosdyke o Frampton West o Freiston o Gedney Church End & Black Lion End o Gedney Drove End o Gedney Dyke o Gedney Hill o Gosberton o Gosberton Clough & Risegate o Haltoft End o Holbeach o Holbeach Bank o Holbeach Clough o Holbeach Drove o Holbeach Hurn o Holbeach St Johns o Holbeach St Marks o Holland Fen o Hubbert’s Bridge o Kirton o Kirton End o Kirton Holme o Langrick Bridge o Leake Commonside o Leverton o Little Sutton o Long Sutton o Lutton & Lutton Gowts o Moulton o Moulton Chapel o Moulton Seas End o Nene Terrace o Northgate, West Pinchbeck o Old Leake o Pinchbeck o Quadring o Saracen’s Head o Scrane End o Shepeau Stow o Spalding o Surfleet o Sutterton o Sutton Bridge o Sutton St Edmund o Sutton St James o Swineshead o Swineshead Bridge o Tongue End o Tydd Gote o Tydd St Mary o Weston o Weston Hills o Whaplode o Whaplode Drove o Whaplode St Catherine o Wigtoft o Wrangle o Wrangle Common o Wyberton Church End 1 What is a Strategic Housing Land Availability Assessment? 1.1 The National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF) indicates that Local Plans “should be based on adequate, up-to-date, and relevant evidence about the economic, social and environmental characteristics and prospects of the area.” (paragraph 158). Amongst this evidence, the NPPF states that “local planning authorities should ... prepare a Strategic Housing Land Availability Assessment to establish realistic assumptions about the availability, suitability, and the likely economic viability of land to meet the identified need for housing over the plan period” (paragraph 159). 1.2 The NPPF goes on to indicate that “local planning authorities should ensure that their assessments of ... housing, employment and other uses are integrated” (paragraph 158), and that “reviews of land available for economic development should be undertaken at the same time as, or combined with, Strategic Housing Land Availability Assessments” (paragraph 161). In slight contrast, the Planning Practice Guidance (PPG) refers to the production of a ‘Housing and economic land availability assessment’, which would identify “a future supply of land which is suitable, available and achievable for housing and economic development uses over the plan period.” 1.3 This assessment looks only at potential sites for meeting South East Lincolnshire’s housing needs, and a separate assessment has been carried to look at potential employment land – the Strategic Employment Land Availability Assessment. However, the two assessments have been produced in parallel, and each has taken account of the findings of the other. 1.4 The PPG makes it clear that an “assessment is an important evidence source to inform plan making but does not in itself determine whether a site should be allocated for development. This is because not all sites considered in the assessment will be suitable for development (e.g. because of policy constraints or if they are unviable). It is the role of the assessment to provide information on the range of sites which are available to meet need, but it is for the development plan itself to determine which of those sites are the most suitable to meet those needs.” 2 What sites have been assessed? 2.1 The geographical area covered by the South East Lincolnshire Strategic Housing Land Availability Assessment (SELSHLAA) - The PPG states that “the area selected for the assessment should be the housing market area ...”. However, the SELSHLAA is intended to provide evidence to underpin the production of the South East Lincolnshire Local Plan, which covers the South East Lincolnshire Strategic Housing Land Availability Assessment (April 2017) 1 combined areas of Boston Borough and South Holland District. The two local authority areas are located within different Housing Market Areas (HMAs) - Boston Borough is within the Coastal Lincolnshire HMA, whilst South Holland is within the Peterborough Sub-Regional HMA. 2.2 In these circumstances, it is considered more appropriate for the SELSHLAA to cover the Local Plan area (i.e. Boston Borough and South Holland District Councils’ areas). 2.3 Site size – The PPG states that “the assessment should consider all sites and broad locations capable of delivering five or more dwellings or economic development on sites of 0.25ha and above. Where appropriate, plan makers may wish to consider alternative site size thresholds.” The SELSHLAA sets a threshold of 0.1ha, to reflect the fact that smaller-scale sites may potentially be required, given the predominantly rural nature of the Plan area. 2.4 Site type – The PPG identifies that the following types of site should be included: “Existing housing and economic development allocations and site development allocations and site development briefs not yet with planning permission; Planning permissions for housing and economic development that are unimplemented or under construction; Planning applications that have been refused or withdrawn; Land in the local authority’s ownership; Surplus and likely to become surplus public sector land; Vacant and derelict land and buildings (including empty homes, redundant and disused agricultural buildings, potential permitted changes e.g. offices to residential); Additional opportunities in established uses (e.g. making productive use of under-utilised facilities such as garage blocks); Business requirements and aspirations; Sites in rural locations; Large scale redevelopment and redesign of existing residential or economic areas; Sites in and adjoining villages or rural settlements and rural exception sites; Potential urban extension and new free standing settlements.” It also goes on to indicate that “plan makers should issue a call for potential sites and broad locations for development, which should be aimed at as wide an audience as is practicable so that those not normally involved in property development have the opportunity to contribute.” South East Lincolnshire Strategic Housing Land Availability Assessment (April 2017) 2 2.5 The SELSHLAA has been produced in accordance with the above advice, with specific ‘calls for sites’ issued in July 2011 and May 2014, and sites also being submitted as part of all Local Plan public consultation exercises. 3 How have sites been assessed? 3.1 Capacity - the PPG indicates that “the estimation of the development potential of each identified site should be guided by the existing or emerging plan policy including locally determined policies on density.” However, neither the adopted South Holland Local Plan (July 2006) nor the Boston Borough Local Plan (April 1999) specify residential densities, and the ‘South East Lincolnshire Local Plan 2011-2036 Draft for Public Consultation (including site options for development) January 2016’ merely indicates that density will be amongst the sustainable development considerations (policy 3), and that “in residential developments of 10 or more dwellings the Local Planning Authorities will seek to secure a mix of property types to meet the housing needs of the Local Plan area ...” (policy 14). 3.2 In these circumstances, it has been assumed that (unless a specific capacity was available from e.g. a planning permission or Local Plan allocation) potential housing sites would be developed at the following gross densities: 40 dwellings per hectare in central parts of Boston and Spalding; 30 dwellings per hectare elsewhere in Boston and Spalding, and in central parts of Butterwick, Crowland, Donington, Holbeach, Kirton, Long Sutton, Old Leake, Sutterton, Sutton Bridge, and Swineshead; and 20 dwellings per hectare elsewhere. 3.3 For some larger sites assumptions on capacity have been reduced (where it is expected that they will contain major distributor roads, schools, neighbourhood centres, open spaces serving a wider area, or significant landscape buffer strips). 3.4 Suitability – the PPG indicates that “assessing the suitability of sites or broad locations for development should be guided by: the development plan, emerging plan policy and national policy; market and industry requirements ...” and “in addition to the above considerations, the following factors should be considered to assess a site’s suitability for development now or in the future: physical limitations or problems such as access, infrastructure, ground conditions, flood risk, hazardous risks, pollution or contamination; potential impacts including the effect upon landscapes including landscape features, nature and heritage conservation; South East Lincolnshire Strategic Housing Land Availability Assessment (April 2017) 3 appropriateness and likely market attractiveness for the type of development proposed; contribution to regeneration priority areas; environmental/amenity impacts experienced by would be occupiers and neighbouring areas.” 3.5 Taking account of the above guidance, the following criteria for assessing suitability were used: EMERGING LOCAL PLAN The scale of housing development which the emerging South East Lincolnshire Local Plan seeks in the settlement. ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACTS Impacts on natural assets (Ramsar sites, Special Protection Areas, Special Areas of Conservation, Sites of Special Scientific Interest, Sites of Geological Interest, National Nature Reserves, Local Wildlife Sites) or upon natural habitats or biodiversity networks. Impacts on heritage assets (Scheduled Ancient Monuments, Registered Parks and Gardens, listed buildings, conservation areas, non-designated heritage assets).